The manager of a Carlow hotel has said he was surprised to learn that it had been chosen as the county’s vaccination centre after an announcement by the HSE and Minister Stephen Donnelly yesterday.
Minister Donnelly announced 37 vaccination centres across the country on Monday including the Seven Oaks Hotel in Co Carlow.
However, its General Manager, Michael Walsh, told the Irish Mirror that this was a surprise to him.
It’s understood HSE officials had scoped out the hotel’s ballroom earlier this year.
Mr Walsh said: “Enquiries were made and HSE officials did come and had a look at the hotel to see if it’s suitable but we heard nothing more.
“I contacted the HSE this morning to get confirmation myself.
“We haven’t received any further information about it nor details or plans on how the vaccination centre would be constructed.
“We would be delighted to help out and happy to have the centre here but we didn’t receive any confirmation.”
The hotel on the Athy Road was one of 37 venues named as a vaccination centre in a press release published yesterday by the Department of Health.
It read: “The 37 centres have been confirmed by the HSE, with at least one in every county.”
However, a HSE spokesperson told the Carlow Nationalist that a final decision on the venue had not been made.
The Irish Mirror also contacted the HSE and the Department of Health for comment.
In the press release, Minister Donnelly said: “I would like to thank the HSE for their ongoing work in developing these vaccination centres across the country.
“These centres will be ready well in advance of vaccine supply when they will be used as part of our programme.
“People can expect to see these vaccination centres ready and waiting in their county.”
In a Facebook post this morning, the hotel said: “Further to yesterday’s announcement that our hotel is to be used as the vaccination centre in Carlow we would like to clarify that this has not been confirmed to us from the HSE.
“The HSE did enquire with us last month but nothing has been confirmed at this stage.”
